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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canad'-^n  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductio.iS 


Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


1980 


Technical  Notes  /  Notes  techniques 


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18 

la 


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or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"),  whichever 
applies. 


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plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
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Archives  of  Canada 

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in  one  exposure  are  filmed  beginning  in  the 
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L'exemplaire  film6  fut  reproduit  grdce  d  is 
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droite  et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  n^cessaire.  Le  diagramme  suivant 
illustre  la  mdthode  : 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Why  was  Louisburg 
Twice    Besieged  ? 


A  Paper  Read  by 

SAMUEL  ARTHUR   BENT,   A.M. 

Before  the 

SOCIETY    OF 
COLONIAL    WARS 

in  the 

COMMONWEALTH    OF 
MASSACHUSETTS 

At  Boston,  April  30,    1895 


Published  by 

Vote  of  the  Society 

189s 


A 


BOSTON 


^J 


WHY  WAS  LOUISBURG  TWICE  BESIEGED  ? 


<^j 


E  who  would  understand  the  train  of 
events  by  which,  at  the  close  of  one  of 
our  intex -colonial  wars,  Louisburg  was 
built  by  the  French,  to  protect  them- 
selves and  threaten  the  British  posses- 
sions ;  by  which,  in  another  war,  it  was 
captured,  but  res'tored  to  France ;  and 
by  which  it  was  again  and  finally  taken  and  then  abandoned 
by  the  English,  —  must  read  the  history,  not  only  of  this 
country  and  England,  but  of  the  continent  of  Europe, 
for  a  period  of  seventy  years  from  the  accession  of  Will- 
iam and  Mary  to  the  English  throne. 

From  their  settlement  until  the  English  revolution  of 
1688,  interrupted  only  by  Indian  hostilities,  the  Ameri- 
can colonies  had  enjoyed  the  peace  necessary  to  their 
foundation  and  development.  But  when  the  revolution 
drove  James  II.  from  his  throne,  and  sent  into  banish- 
ment such  unpopular  servants  of  his  as  Sir  Edmund 
Andros,  the  English  colonies,  though  heartily  sympathiz- 
ing with  these  changes,  found  themselves  embroiled  in 
the  disputes  to  which  this  revolution  gave  rise,  and  were 
obliged  to  take  their  part  in  the  struggles  which  ensued. 
Even  before  the  new  charter  of  William  and  Mary  was 
sent  over,  the  project  of  the  invasion  of  Canada  and  Acadia 

(3) 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


was  conceived  by  Massachusetts ;  as  early  as  April, 
1690,  his  majesty  was  asked  to  supply  arms  and  ammu- 
nition for  the  expedition,  and  a  number  of  frigates,  with 
which  to  attack  the  French  by  sea,  while  the  colonies 
attacked  them  by  land.  In  the  same  month  Sir  William 
Phips  had  captured  Port  Royal,  in  Acadia;  and  when 
the  proposition  was  declined,  owing  to  the  war  in  Ireland, 
Massachusetts,  in  an  alliance  with  Connecticut  and  New 
York,  resolved  to  act  on  her  own  responsibility  and 
attack  Montreal  by  land  and  Quebec  by  sea. 

New  England  was  now  embarked  in  the  first  of  the 
great  wars  which  ragec  multaneously  on  both  conti- 
nents. We  call  it  King  William's  War ;  in  European 
history  it  is  known  as  the  War  of  the  Palatinate,  when 
the  smiling  country  among  the  vineyards  of  the  Rhine 
and  the  Neckar,  around  the  stately  palace  of  the  Elector 
at  Heidelberg  and  the  venerable  tombs  of  the  Emperors 
at  Speyer,  was  turned  into  a  desert.  The  early  successes 
of  France  had  exhausted  her  finances  and  decimated  her 
population,  while  the  defeats  of  William  were  reversed, 
as  he  became  more  firmly  seated  upon  his  throne,  by 
victories  in  Ireland  and  Scotland.  Still,  by  the  Peace 
of  Ryswick,  in  1697,  after  the  dismal  failure  of  Phips's 
Canadian  expedition,  after  the  terrible  barbarities  of 
the  Indian  warfare  waged  against  the  colonies,  France 
retained  the  whole  coast  and  adjacent  islands,  from 
Maine  to  Labrador,  with  the  Hudson's  Bay  country, 
Canada,  and  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  bounds 
between  the  two  countries  were  imperfectly  defined, 
and  each  was  waiting  for  some  opportunity  to  encroach 
upon  the  other.  It  soon  presented  itself  in  the  second 
inter-colonial  war,  beginning  in  1701,  called  Queen 
Anne's  War,  or,  in  European  history,  the  War  of  the 
Spanish  Succession,  in  which  England  opposed  the 
elevation  of  the  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.  to  the  Spanish 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


5 


throne.  It  was  signalized  by  the  great  campaign  of 
Marlborough  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  by  English 
victories  on  the  coast  of  Spain  and  in  the  West 
Indies.  On  this  side  of  the  water,  the  New  England 
frontier  was  again  desolated.  Deerfield  and  Haverhill 
were  destroyed  by  the  Indian  allies  of  the  French ;  re- 
mote settlements  were  abandoned ;  the  colonists  defended 
themselves  in  garrison  houses;  the  gun  accompanied 
the  plough.  Again  an  expedition  against  Canada  failed, 
though  Port  Royal  was  captured,  and  to  the  shameful 
exhibition  of  the  incompetence  of  court  favorites  Massa- 
chusetts had  contributed  ;{^4o,ooo  in  bills  of  credit.  More 
than  one  man  in  five  was  in  coast-guard  seivice,  in  the 
defence  of  the  frontier,  or  in  the  Canada  expedition. 
Years  passed  before  this .  colony  recovered  from  the 
financial  exhaustion,  the  disappointment  and  loss  of 
these  futile  attempts. 

The  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  171 3,  however,  after  Marl- 
borough had  humbled  the  French  at  Blenheim,  Ramil- 
lies,  and  Oudenarde,  gave  the  first  check  to  France  in 
her  design  to  conquer  Great  Britain  in  America.  Nova 
Scotia  and  Newfoundland  were  ceded  to  Englap-1,  while 
Cape  Breton  was  left  to  the  French.  From  this  time  for- 
ward, the  latter  country,  called  Cape  Breton  from  the 
early  visits  of  Breton  and  Basque  fishermen,  —  so  little 
known  that  a  British  Prime  Minister  was  surprised  to  be 
told  that  it  was  an  island,  —  began  to  be  an  important 
factor  in  American  affairs.  The  attention  of  the  French 
government  had  already  been  called  to  the  importance 
of  its  geographical  position,  and  to  the  expediency  of 
making  one  of  its  harbors  the  entrepot  for  the  trade  be- 
tween France,  Canada  and  the  West  Indies ;  while  it  might 
furnish  a  base  for  future  attacks  upon  New  England. 
Accordingly,  when  Newfoundland  was  given  up  to  Eng- 
land, the  French  officials   and    inhabitants    removed  to 


/ 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


V 


Cape  Breton,  then  a  wilderness.  The  so-called  English 
harbor  was  selected  for  fortification,  and  named  Louis- 
burg,  after  Louis  XIV.  This  deep  and  sheltered  basin 
was  capable  of  giving  anchorage  to  a  fleet  of  men-of-war. 
On  a  tongue  of  land  between  this  basin  and  the  coast, 
surrounded  by  barren  hills  and  broad  marshes,  the  forti- 
fication was  built.  It  was  begun  in  1 720,  and  cost  the 
French  over  five  millions  of  our  money,  and  even  then 
was  not  completed  in  accordance  with  the  original  plan, 
the  king  being  unwilling  to  divert  more  money  from  the 
lavish  expenditure  of  his  court  and  the  cost  of  his  con- 
tinental wars.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  finer  brick 
and  stone  was  brought  from  France ;  while  much  timber 
and  brick  was  purchased  from  New  England  traders. 
The  French  always  contended  that  the  works  were  con- 
structed carelessly,  and  that  the  officials  in  charge 
defrauded  their  government.  As  it  was,  the  fortress  was 
only  completed  a  year  or  two  before  Its  capture,  in  1 745 . 
Enclosed  within  it  f  ew  up  a  fishing  village  of  some  two 
thousand  inhabitants ;  while  the  peace  garrison  amounted 
to  one  thousand  men.  The  fortifications  inclosed  an 
area  of  over  one  hundred  acres,  and  had  a  circumference 
of  about  two  and  one-half  miles.  They  were  planned  on 
the  best  system,  as  laid  dr>wn  by  Vauban  and  other 
great  military  engineers,  and  were,  in  spite  of  their 
faulty  construction,  the  most  complete  example  of  a  for- 
tified town  in  America. 

At  the  time  we  are  now  considering,  the  Peace  of 
1 71 3,  the  population  of  these  colonies  had  reached 
375*750  whites  and  58,850  blacks,  and  was  rapidly  in- 
creasing. Their  tradt  amounted  to  twelve  and  a  half 
millions  annually.  On  the  other  hand,  the  population 
of  Canada  did  not  exceed  25,000,  and  the  only  towns  — 
Montreal  and  Quebec  —  had  not  half  the  population  of 
Boston.     But  in  spite  of  this  disproportion  of  numbers, 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


when  George  II.  ascended  the  throne,  there  were  already 
French  forts  and  missions  on  many  important  points  on 
the  Great  Lakes,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  and  even  at 
Mobile,  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  which  were  to  be  used  to 
confine  the  English  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Alle- 
ghanies. 

Like  its  predecessor,  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  was  but  a 
truce,  and  the  match  was  ready  to  set  on  fire  both  con- 
tinents, it  was  applied  in  1744,  when,  in  the  War  of  the 
Austrian  Succession,  —  called  by  us  King  George's  War, 
from  George  II.,  —  the  English  supported  Maria  Theresa 
against  France  and  Prussia.  In  it  George  II.  defeated 
the  French  at  Dettingen,  while  Marshal  Saxe  worsted  the 
English  at  Fontenoy.  To  us  it  is  important  as  the  occasion 
of  the  expedition  which  captured  the  newly  built  fortress 
of  Louisburg.  This  stronghold  was  seen  to  be  a  standing 
menace  to  all  the  northern  British  colonies.  As  the  only 
French  naval  station  on  the  continent,  it  commanded  the 
chief  entrance  to  Canada,  and  threatened  to  ruin  the  fish- 
eries, which  were  nearly  as  vital  to  New  England  as  was 
the  fur  trade  to  France.  While  Cape  Breton  was  French, 
the  nominal  possession  of  Acadia  was  of  little  security 
to  the  English.  In  spite  of  their  oath  of  allegiance,  it  was 
evident  that  the  Acadians  would  be  both  useless  and  dan- 
gerous as  long  as  the  French  flag  floated  over  Louisburg. 
The  danger  vas  imminent.  Even  before  the  European 
declaration  of  war,  an  armament,  fitted  out  at  Louisburg, 
had  surprised  the  English  garrison  at  Canseau,  breaking 
up  the  fishery.  Annapolis,  the  capital  of  Acadia,  or 
Nova  Scotia,  had  been  threatened  by  the  Indians,  but 
was  successfully  defended.  The  English  prisoners  who 
had  been  sent  from  Canseau  to  Louisburg  had  remained 
there  during  the  winter,  and  the  accounts  they  brought 
back  of  its  condition  gave  Governor  Shirley  reason  to 
believe  that  if  an  expedition  was  speedily  sent  against  it. 


8 


WHY  v;as  louisbukg  twice  besieged? 


!  ~i 


( 

\ 

) 

L 

I 


I 


there  would  be  a  fair  chance  of  success.  These  pris- 
oners represented  that  not  only  was  the  garrison  small, 
but  that  it  was  discontented,  and  that  a  mutiny  had  ac- 
tually broken  out,  on  account  of  the  soldiers  not  having 
received  certain  additions  to  their  pay  for  work  upon  the 
fortifications.  The  ramparts  were  said  to  be  defective  in 
more  than  one  place,  and  gales  and  other  causes  had  de- 
layed the  arrival  of  ships  with  provisions  and  reenforce- 
ments. 

When  Governor  Shirley  laid  before  the  General  Court 
the  plan  —  which  it  is  possible  had  been  suggested  to 
him  by  one  of  the  several  men  whose  names  are  attached 
to  it  —  for  striking  a  blow  at  the  French  which  would 
give  the  English  control  of  the  whole  coast  from  Cape 
Sable  to  the  entrance  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  it  was  re- 
jected as  foolish  and  chimerical ;  but  on  presentation  of 
a  petition,  signed  by  New  England  merchants,  complain- 
ing of  the  losses  they  had  received  from  French  priva- 
teers which  found  refuge  at  Louisburg,  the  project  was 
carried  by  one  majority.  Shirley  then  called  upon  the 
mother  country  and  the  other  colonies  for  cooperation. 
Everywhere  but  in  New  England  the  scheme  was  re- 
garded as  quixotic.  As  the  result  of  his  application 
it  was  a  New  England  expedition  which  attacked  Louis- 
burg, aided  by  ten  pieces  of  small  ordnance  and  a 
quantity  of  powder  and   provisions  contributed  by  New 

York. 

The  forces  against  the  French  consisted  of  4,070  men, 
of  whom  Massachusetts  contributed  3,250  (one-third  of 
them  from  Maine)  ;  New  Hampshire,  304 ;  Connecticut, 
516.  William  Pepperell,  who  was  placed  in  command, 
had  become  wealthy  in  commerce,  and  had  held  some 
important  civil  positions.  Without  military  experience, 
he  was  a  man  of  excellent  judgment,  undoubted  courage, 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  art  of  managing  men.     The  old 


. 


WHY     WAS    I.OUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


Puritan  spirit  of  the  colonies  asserted  itself  at  this  crisis. 
In  the  churches  and  on  the  domestic  hearths  prayers 
were  ofifered  that  Romanism  and  its  superstfiions  might 
be  crushed  out,  A  new  crusade  was  pr''ached  by  the 
clergy,  and  the  great  Whitfield  placec^  ,  oon  its  banner 
the  motto,  Nil  desperandum,  Christo  o 

The  ships  which  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  sent,  under 
command  of  Commodore  Warren,  on  receipt  of  Gov- 
ernor Shirley's  letter,  met  the  Americans  at  Canseau. 
They  materially  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  expe- 
dition by  capturing  the  French  vessel  on  her  annual 
trip  to  Louisburg  with  supplies,  and  manning  her  with 
English  seamen.  With  this  cooperation,  on  the  17th  of 
June,  1745,  after  a  siege  of  forty-seven  days,  the  keys  of 
the  fortress  were  handed  to  General  Pepperell,  and  the 
English  flag  was  hoisted  on  the  walls  of  Louisburg.  The 
reception  in  Boston  of  the  news  of  its  capture  was 
marked  by  the  ringing  of  bells,  the  discharge  of  cannon, 
by  bonfires  and  illuminations,  and  a  public  thanksgiving 
ordered  by  the  governor.  The  rejoicings  in  Boston 
were  echoed  throughout  New  England,  in  New  York, 
and  Philadelphia.  Stores  for  the  garrison  and  materials 
for  the  reconstruction  of  the  damaged  works  were  or- 
dered by  the  General  Court,  New  York  contributed  for 
this  purpose  ^5,000;  New  Jersey,  ;^2,ooo;  Pennsyl- 
vania, ^4,000. 

When  Pepperell  reached  Boston  he  was  met  by  the 
governor  and  escorted  to  the  town-house,  where  he 
received  a  vote  of  thanks,  to  which  he  made  a  charac- 
teristically Ddest  reply.  His  return  to  his  home  in 
Maine,  through  the  large  towns  of  Essex  County,  re- 
sembled the  triumphal  progress  of  a  Roman  conqueror. 
Equal  enthusiasm  was  shown  in  London,  on  arrival  of 
the  news  of  what  one  of  her  historians  calls  "  the  great 
event  of  the  War  of  the  Austrian  Succession."    The  guns 


lO 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


were  fired  in  the  Park  and  at  the  Tower.  In  return  for 
a  conquest  which  saved  Nova  Scotia  to  the  British 
crown,  Pepperell  was  made  a  baronet,  —  the  first  dis- 
tinction of  the  kind  ever  given  to  a  colonist,  —  and 
Warren  a  rear-admiral.  What  \.as  the  disgust  of  the 
colonies  when  England,  by  the  Peace  of  Aix-Ja-Cha- 
pelle,  restored  Louisburg,  her  only  conquest  during  the 
war,  to  the  Fren  ,h  ! 

The  War  in  Europe,  from  1745,  had  drifted  on, 
although  its  original  purpose  had  disappeared.  Both 
parties  to  it  were  financially  exhausted,  and  were  happy 
to  close  the  conflict  by  mutually  restoring  their  conquests 
in  all  parts  of  the  world.  In  October,  1748,  the  Peace 
was  signed  by  which  Louisburg,  won  for  England  by  the 
farmers  and  fishermen  of  New  England,  was  given  back 
to  France.  It  is  said  that  when  the  preliminaries  of 
peace  were  under  discussion,  Louis  XV.  had  demanded 
the  restitution  of  Louisburg,  and  George  II.  is  said  to 
have  replied  that  it  was  not  his  to  give,  having  been  cap- 
tured by  the  people  of  Boston ;  but  his  sense  of  justice 
was  forced  to  yield  to  diplomatic  necessity,  Louisburg 
being  the  indispensable  price  of  peace. 

The  reasons  for  so  unfortunate  an  act  are  matters  of 
conjecture.  It  must  be  remembered  that  parliamentary 
government  and  ministerial  responsibility,  as  we  now  un- 
derstand them,  did  not  then  exist.  The  government  was 
not  responsible  to  the  people,  nor  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, but  to  the  king.  Nor,  if  the  subject  had  been 
matter  for  debate,  was  there  any  system  of  parliamentary 
reporting.  It  is  said,  however,  that  conflicting  represen- 
tations were  made  to  the  British  ministry  respecting  the 
value  of  Louisburg  to  the  English.  Shirley  indeed  told 
them  that  it  was  the  key  to  both  the  French  and  English 
northern  colonies,  and  that  if  •  the  French  should  be 
able  to  hold  it,  *'  it  would  some  time  or  other  put  them 


I    ; 
I    . 

I  : 


WHY    WAS     LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED?  II 

upon  disputing  the  mastery  of  the  whole  continent  with 
the  British  crown."  Warren  agreed  with  Pepperell  in 
wishing  to  have  it  established  as  a  civil  government  and 
a  free  port ;  but  Warren's  successor,  Commodore  Knowles, 
thought  the  fortress  not  worth  th«  trouble  of  keeping  up. 
The  fortifications,  he  said,  were  badly  designed  and  worse 
executed,  and  the  climate  was  frightful.  It  was  at  the 
mercy  of  a  hostile  fleet,  and  required  naval  defence. 
But  Knowles,  who  is  described  as  "  a  testy  person,"  had 
an  old  prejudice  against  the  colonies,  and  had  spoken  of 
their  troops  as  "  banditti."  He  had  impressed  mechanics 
in  Boston  to  recruit  his  ships,  whom  he  had  given  up, 
after  a  mob  had  attacked  his  officers. 

Other  reasons  than  the  opinion  of  Commodore  Knowles 
may  have  contributed  to  a  result  so  mortifying  to  the 
pride  of  our  ancestors.  The  conquest  of  Louisburg, 
says  Palfrey,  had  been  made  at  their  own  motion,  at 
their  own  risk,  and  at  a  cost,  for  the  moment,  at  least, 
most  embarrassing  to  them.  That  they  had  made  it 
for  their  needful  security,  and  that  they  had  contributed 
by  it  to  the  glory  and  greatness  of  the  empire,  seemed 
to  them  alike  reasons  why  it  should  not  be  relinquished. 
How  far  a  jealousy  of  their  growing  power,  he  adds, 
manifested  by  so  conspicuous  a  demonstration,  may  have 
operated  to  induce  the  English  ministry  to  this  morti- 
fying measure,  cannot  be  positively  affirmed.  But  an 
opinion  was  entertained  in  some  quarters  that  in  the 
British  counsels  the  vicinity  of  French  settlements  and 
forces  was  not  overlooked  as  a  means  of  keeping  the  col- 
onies in  their  allegiance  to  Great  Britain,  through  a  sense 
of  need  of  her  aid  for  their  security.  In  fact,  this  was 
suggested  to  the  British  Prime  Minister  by  Governor 
Shirley,  who  wrote  that  if  Louisburg  should  be  strength- 
ened the  crown  would  have  an  absolute  hold  of  the  col- 
onies, if  ever  there  should  come  a  time  when  they  should 


12 


WIIV    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


1 


I  I 


^1" 
.  i  i 


grow  restive,  and  disposed  to  shake  off  their  dependency 
upon  their  mother  country,  the  possibility  of  which,  he 
added,  "  seems  to  me  some  centuries  further  off  than  it 
does  to  some  gentlemen  at  home." 

While  the  surrender  of  Louisburg  was  distasteful  in 
the  highest  degree  to  the  colonies  to  which  its  capture 
was  due,  Lord  Mahon,  in  his  History  of  England,  asserts 
that,  notwithstanding  the  exhausted  state  of  the  British 
finances  and  the  depression  wrought  by  the  disasters  in 
the  Netherlands,  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  —  especially  the  restitution  of  Cape  Breton  — 
were  far  from  popular  in  England,  and  he  adds  that  it 
was  clogged  with  a  clause  most  unwelcome  to  British 
pride,  that  hostages  should  be  given  to  France  for  the 
restitution  of  Cape  Breton,  in  the  person  of  two  noble- 
men of  distinguished  rank,  who  were  selected  for  this 
purpose  and  sent  to  Paris. 

But  if  the  surrender  of  Louisburg  was  a  bitter  pill  to 
the  colonies,  it  was  of  immense  benefit  to  Massachusetts, 
for  it  was  as  a  direct  consequence  of  this  act  that  our  cur- 
rency was  reformed  and  placed  upon  a  specie  basis.  The 
evil  of  an  irredeemable  paper  currency  had  weighed 
upon  the  colony  during  nearly  half  of  its  existence, 
beginning  with  the  issue  of  bills  of  credit  to  pay  for  the 
disastrous  expedition  against  Canada  in  1690.  Follow- 
ing wars  had  caused  further  emission  of  bills  payable, 
first  at  two  years,  then  at  three,  then  at  longer  periods. 
In  the  meantime,  the  value  of  public  securities  fell,  and 
specie,  for  which  the  paper  money  was  a  cheap  substitute, 
disappeared.  Different  remedies  were  applied,  but  in 
vain ;  while  the  distress  which  they  were  intended  to 
relieve  was  becoming  intolerable.  Upon  the  urgent  rep- 
resentation of  Governor  Shirley,  and  in  order  to  quiet  the 
growing  discontent  of  the  colony,  the  entire  sum  ex- 
pended by  Massachusetts  on  the   expedition   to   Louis- 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


13 


burg,  equal  to  ;^i 83,650  as  exchange  then  stood  with 
London,  was  allowed  by  the  English  government.  It 
came  over,  says  Palfrey,  in  solid  coin,  "  and  the  people 
of  Boston,  little  used  to  the  sight  of  money,  saw  seven- 
teen trucks  dragged  up  King  street  to  the  treasury 
ofifices,  laden  with  two  hundred  and  seventeen  chests  full 
of  Spanish  dollars,  and  ten  trucks  bearing  one  hundred 
casks  of  coined  copper."  Before  the  arrival  of  the  money 
its  use  had  been  provided  for.  Thomas  Hutchinson, 
later  Governor,  then  Speaker  of  the  House,  having 
opposed  all  the  schemes  hitherto  advocated,  urged  the 
devotion  of  the  money  to  the  payment  of  the  provincial 
bills  of  the  old  tenor,  more  than  two  millions  of  which 
were  in  circulation.  After  much  opposition  his  views 
prevailed ;  and  it  was  further  enacted  that  silver  at  the 
rate  of  6.y.  %d.  the  ounce,  and  Spanish  dollars  at  6s.  each, 
should  be  the  legal  tender  of  the  province.  The  money, 
when  it  arrived,  took  the  place  of  the  outstanding  notes, 
and  for  twenty-five  years  Massachusetts  enjoyed  a  specie 
currency. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Hutchinson  should  begin  the 
third  volume  of  his  "  History  of  Massachusetts  "  by  saying 
that  the  people  of  this  province  were  never  in  a  more 
easy  and  happy  situation  than  at  the  close  of  the  war 
with  France ;  and  he  recounts,  with  no  personal  allusion, 
the  establishment  of  the  currency  on  a  specie  basis,  the 
advantage  whereof,  he  adds,  was  evident,  and  excited  the 
envy  of  the  other  colonies,  in  each  of  which  paper  was 
the  principal  medium.  * 

When  the  English  understood  the  mistake  they  had 
made  in  restoring  Cape  Breton  to  France,  they  endeav- 
ored to  retrieve  it,  as  far  as  possible,  and,  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  Shirley  and  others,  set  to  work  to  bring  an 
English  population  into  Nova  Scotia,  and  to  make  it  a 
source  of  strength  instead  of  weakness  to  the  New  Eng- 


14  WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


land  communities.  In  1749  the  city  of  Halifax  was 
founded  on  the  west  side  of  the  harbor  of  Chebuctou,  a 
harbor  remarkable  for  its  spaciousness  and  freedom  from 
ice  in  the  winter ;  and  thousands  of  Acadians,  who  had 
supplied  Louisburg  with  provisions  and  helped  to  build 
the  French  forts  in  Nova  Scotia,  were  deported  and 
scattered  among  the  English  colonies. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  and  most  momentous  of 
these  inter-colon 'il  struggles,  from  which  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  America  emerged  a  nation.  The  con- 
flict began  with  us.  Its  cause  was  the  proposed  settle- 
ment of  the  English  beyond  the  Ohio,  opposed  by  the 
French,  who  constructed  forts  to  connect  Canada  with 
Louisiana.  When  the  contending  parties  stood  face  to 
face  along  this  line,  the  spark  struck  from  their  flintlocks 
lighted  the  flame  of  war  through  the  American  forests, 
while  across  the  ocean,  England  and  Prussia  stood  side 
by  side  against  Europe.  Beg.  ^  in  shame  and  disaster 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  with  the  defeat  of  Brad- 
dock,  the  fall  of  Oswego,  defeat  at  Fort  Edward  and 
Ticonderoga,  the  Sevei^  Years'  War  opened  with  Fred- 
erick seemingly  crushed  at  Kolin,  Port  Mahon  lost  to 
England,  the  English  disgraced  in  Hanover.  These 
defeats,  the  result  of  incompetence,  maladministration, 
and  favoritism,  brought  England  to  a  despondency  with- 
out parallel  in  her  history,  until  the  cry  was  heard,  "  We 
are  no  longer  a  nation," 

Then  the  man  arose  for  whom  the  time  called.  Will- 
iam Pitt,  "the  great  commoner,"  loved  by  the  people, 
though  disliked  by  the  king  and  hated  by  the  court,  was 
asked  to  form  a  ministry.  His  sublime  self-confidence 
found  utterance  in  the  words:  "I  am  sure  that  I  can 
save  this  country,  and  that  no  one  else  can  !  "  —  "  Eng- 
land has  long  been  in  labor,"  exclaimed  Frederick,  "  and 
at  last  she  has  brought  forth  a  man !  " 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


IS 


In  the  great  reorganization  which  followed,  Pitt  turned 
his  thoughts  towards  America.  His  liberal  policy  for 
the  colonics  was  aimed  to  win  their  confidence,  and  thus 
secure  their  support.  He  proposed  to  procure  for  them 
immediate  and  permanent  security  against  the  French 
and  their  Indian  allies,  to  encourage  and  to  remunerate 
their  liberality,  and  to  protect  their  rights.  The  colo- 
nies responded  to  his  call.  Twenty-eight  thousand  men, 
of  whom  Massachusetts  contributed  one-fourth,  were 
brought  into  the  field.  On  the  other  hand,  the  presence 
here  of  22,000  regular  British  troops  attested  the  hearty 
cooperation  of  the  mother  country.  Governor  Pownall 
wrote  lo  Pitt  that,  in  spite  of  the  large  expenditures  of 
Massachusetts,  the  General  Court  had  voted  to  borrow 
;^78,ooo  for  the  approaching  campaign,  and  that  such 
was  the  spirit  of  the  people  that  the  subscription  to  the 
loan  was  filled  in  twelve  hours.  "  This  province,"  he 
adds,  "  ever  did,  ever  will,  and  ever  must,  take  the  lead 
when  a  spirited  measure  is  expected." 

To  command  these  men,  Pitt  discarded  court  favorites 
and  senior  officers.  He  superseded  Abercrombie,  and 
called  from  Germany  to  the  command  of  his  eastern  ex- 
pedition Col.  Jeffrey  Amherst,  with  the  rank  of  Major- 
General.  The  second  in  command  was  a  young  man, 
who  had  been  at  Dettingen  and  Fontenoy,  who  was  a 
lieutenant-colonel  at  two  and  twenty,  ambitious  and 
conscious  of  his  ability,  who  was,  by  one  great  act,  to 
earn  an  immortality  of  fame,  —  James  Wolfe. 

Even  before  the  declaration  of  the  war  which  was  to 
begin  in  disaster  and  end  in  permanent  conquest,  the 
English  ministry  had  formed  the  plan  of  assailing  the 
French  in  America  on  all  sides  at  once,  and  of  repelling 
them,  by  a  bold  and  concerted  action,  from  all  their  en- 
croachments. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  consider  the  five  objective  points 


l6 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


I    I 


of  this  final  struggle  for  the  possession  of  the  North 
American  continent.  They  covered  the  whole  territory- 
controlled  by  France,  and  the  campaign  which  now 
opened  included,  ist,  the  capture  of  Fort  Duquesne, 
which  was  the  key  to  the  region  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies ;  2d,  Louisburg  and  Acadia,  which,  in  French 
hands,  threatened  New  England,  and  controlled  the 
fisheries  of  Newfoundland ;  3d,  Crown  Point  and  Ticon- 
deroga,  which  controlled  the  route  to  Canada  by  way  of 
Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain,  and  offered  a  start- 
ing-point for  French  expeditions  against  New  York  and 
New  England ;  4th,  Niagara,  which  lay  on  the  portage 
between  Lake  Erie  and  Ontario,  and  protected  the  great 
fur  trade  of  the  upper  lakes  and  the  west ;  5th,  Quebec, 
the  strongest  fortification  in  Canada,  which  controlled 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  eastern  province  of  Canada. 

The  second  expedition  against  Louisburg  was  con- 
ducted on  a  larger  scale  than  that  whose  modest  equip- 
ment, but  glorious  result,  this  Society  proposes  to  com- 
memorate. The  fleet  commanded  by  Admiral  Boscawen 
was  composed  of  twenty-two  ships  of  the  line,  eighteen 
frigates,  a  sloop,  and  two  fire-ships,  carrying  in  all  1,800 
guns;  120  transports  carried  a  train  of  artillery,  and  500 
American  rangers  and  carpenters,  under  command  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Meserve,  of  New  Hampshire,  who  had 
served  in  the  first  siege,  —  the  British  forces  exceeding 
12,000  men.  The  French  garrison  numbered  3,400  reg- 
ulars and  700  militia.  There  were  in  the  harbor  fourteen 
French  men-of-war,  carrying  562  guns.  The  town  was 
well  supplied  with  provisions  and  military  stores ;  the 
walls  of  the  fortress  were  defended  by  218  cannon  and 
18  mortars.  A  landing  was  effected  on  the  i8th  of 
June,  and  in  a  month's  time  the  investment  was  com- 
plete. The  garrison  made  an  obstinate  defence.  Sev- 
eral of  the  French  men-of-war  were  sunk,  to  prevent  the 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED?  1 7 

English  ships  from  entering  the  harbor.  When  the  siege 
ended,  not  one  French  ship  had  escaped  destruction. 
The  bombardment  destroyed  not  only  the  fortifications, 
but  most  of  the  buildings  of  the  citadel  and  the  town ; 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  27th  of  July  the  croas  of  St. 
George  waved  for  the  second  time  over  the  fortress  whose 
glory  was  ended,  and  which  was  soon  to  disappear  from 
the  pages  of  history. 

The  English  obtained  possession  of  221  cannon,  18 
moitars,  a  great  quantity  of  stores  and  provisions;  nearly 
six  thousand  officers  and  men  became  prisoners  of  war; 
the  inhabitants  of  the  town  were  eventually  sent  to  La 
Rochelle,  in  France.  The  army  of  Amherst  went  by 
way  of  Boston  to  join  Abercrombie,  in  Canada. 

The  Canadian  writer  Bourinot,  in  his  work  on  Cape 
Breton,  comparing  the  facts  of  the  siege  of  1758  with 
that  of   1745,  admits  that  Pepperell's    success   was  the 
more  remarkable  of  the  two.      "In  the  one  case,"   he 
says,    "a   famous    admiral    and    experienced    generals 
were   at   the   head    of  an  army  of   12,000   well-trained 
soldiers,  and  of  a  fleet  of  at  least  50  war  vessels,  the 
noblest  that  ever  appeared   in   American  waters;    with 
officers  thoroughly  trained   in  the  use  of  artillery,  and 
with  a  great  store  of  all  the  machinery  and  munitions  of 
war  necessary  to  the  reduction  of  a  fortified  town.     In 
the  other  case,  a  relatively  insignificant  body  of  men, 
without  regular  training,  unskilled   in   siege  operations, 
poorly  provided  with  cannon,  tents,  and  stores,  were  led 
by  men  taken  from  the  counting-house  and  farm.     These 
colonial  troops  were  supported  by  a  few  small  vessels  of 
their  own,  and  by  an  English  squadron,  which  did  not 
exceed  nine  vessels  at  the  close  of  the  siege.     If  the 
operations  of  the  two  sieges  are  compared,  it  will  be  seen 
that  Amherst  and  Wolfe  followed  closely,  whenever  pos- 
sible, the  same  plan  of  attack  that  was  adop^'-d  so  sue- 


It 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


cessfuUy  in  1745."  Even  Wolfe's  brilliant  movements 
were  in  accord  with  suggestions  made  to  the  British  gov- 
ernment by  Samuel  Waldo,  one  of  the  officers  of  Pep- 
perell's  expedition. 

The  second  capture  of  Louisburg  was  the  first  great 
succr  is  on  this  continent  of  the  campaign  commenced 
under  the  inspiration  and  genius  of  William  Pitt.  Again, 
as  in  1745,  the  bells  rang,  cannon  were  fired,  towns  were 
illuminated  from  Maine  to  Virginia.  In  London,  the 
colors  captured  at  Louisburg  were  placed  in  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral  amid  the  roar  of  cannon.  In  this  country,  all 
along  the  anxious  line,  from  Lake  George  southwards. 
Englishmen  breathed  more  freely  as  they  saw  the  French 
power  soon  to  be  wiped  out  from  the  American  conti- 
nent. It  was  the  turning-point  of  the  war  in  both  hem- 
ispheres. Every  point  on  this  side  marked  out  by  Pitt 
was  gained. 

The  second  expedition  against  Fort  Duquesne,  in 
which  Washington  led  the  attack,  captured  the  post, 
which  was  to  be  called  Pittsburgh,  from  the  great 
'*  organizer  of  victory."  The  year  after  the  capture  of 
Louisburg  New  York  was  extended  to  the  Niagara  River. 
Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga  were  occupied  by  the 
British.  Wolfe  followed  up  the  victory  of  Louisburg  by 
the  capture  of  Quebec,  and  with  this  great  achievement 
the  British  flag  waved  from  Cape  Breton  to  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  five  points  originally  sought  for  had  been 
gained,  and  when  the  Peace  of  Paris  was  signed,  in  1763, 
all  that  was  left  of  the  vast  possessions  of  France  in  the 
New  World  were  two  small  islands  south  of  Newfound- 
land. To  England  she  gave  up  her  possessions  east,  to 
Spain  the  country  west,  of  the  Mississippi. 

With  the  conclusion  of  this  war  began  a  new  ch^^pter 
in  the  annals  of  the  world.  To  quote  the  late  historian 
Green,  ••  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  three  of  the 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURC    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


19 


many  victories  of  the  Seven  Yeari;'  War  determined  for 
ages  to  come  the  destinies  of  mankind.  With  that  of 
Rossbach  began  the  re-creation  of  Germany;  with  that 
of  Plassy  the  influence  of  Europe  told  for  the  first  time 
since  ihe  days  of  Alexander  on  the  nations  of  the  East ; 
with  the  triumph  of  Wolfe  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham 
began  the  history  of  the  United  States  of  America." 
The  triumph  of  Wolfe  was  made  possible  by  the  second 
siege  of  Louisburg.  Within  a  year  after  the  capture  of 
the  fortress  a  fleet  of  twenty-two  ships  of  the  line  and 
many  frigates,  with  an  army  of  nine  thousand  men, 
assembled  in  that  port  and  made  preparations  for  the 
conquest  of  Canada.  When  the  colonial  contingents 
had  arrived,  and  the  necessary  anangements  had  been 
made,  the  last  great  fleet  that  has  ever  entered  the  harbor 
sailed  for  the  St.  Lawrence  to  accomplish  that  great  and 
decisive  feat  of  arms  by  which  Canada  was  lost  to  France 
and  a  colonial  empire  gained  to  England. 

After  the  building  of  Halifax,  and  especially  after  the 
capture  of  Quebec,  the  English  government  had  no 
motive  for  maintaining  Louisburg  at  the  heavy  cost  which 
it  required.  Pitt,  therefore,  instructed  Amherst  to  de- 
molish the  fortifications.  "  Render,"  he  said,  "  the  port 
and  harbor  as  incommodious  and  as  near  impracticable 
as  may  be."  Its  garrison,  armament,  and  stores  were 
therefore  transferred  to  Halifax.  Much  of  the  stone 
which  formed  the  foundations  and  ornamental  parts  of 
the  best  buildings  was  carried  to  the  same  place,  where 
they  were  used  in  the  new  town  that  was  growing  up 
on  the  hill  overlooking  the  harbor.  Thus  "  Louisburg 
passed  away  from  the  memory  of  the  world." 

The  war  which  closed  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  in  1763, 
had  been  a  costly  one  to  the  American  colonies.  They 
had  spent  sixteen  million  dollars,  and  England  repaid 
but  five  million.     The  former  lost  thirty  thousand  men, 


ao 


WHY    WAS     LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESIEGED? 


while  throughout  their  borders  were  suffered  the  untold 
horrors  of  Indian  barbarity.  The  taxes  sometimes  equalled 
two-thirds  of  the  taxpayers'  income;  but  these  taxes  were 
levied  by  their  own  representatives,  and  were  paid  with- 
out a  murmur.  Troops  had  been  raised  and  supplies 
voted,  not  by  ICngland,  but  by  the  colonies.  While  sup- 
porting the  British  Empire,  they  were  legislating  for 
themselves ;  while  fighting  the  battles  of  Great  Britain, 
they  were  learning  how,  when  the  time  came,  to  fight 
against  Great  Britain.  Sneered  at  by  young  English 
subalterns  for  whom  our  own  officers  were  thrust  aside, 
the  latter  received  a  military  education,  which  gave  us, 
when  our  time  came,  the  trained  services  of  Washington, 
Gates,  Montgomery,  Stark,  Arnold,  Morgan,  Putnam, 
Gridley,  and  scores  of  others.  From  isolated  commu- 
nities, the  colonies  were  brought  together  by  a  common 
interest  and  a  common  defence,  and  were  thus  prepared 
to  stand  together  when  their  own  time  came  to  make  the 
attack  against  the  common  foe. 

"The  stormy  coast  of  Cape  Breton,"  wrote  Parkman, 
"  is  indented  by  a  small  land-locked  bay,  between  which 
and  the  ocean  lies  a  tongue  of  land,  dotted  with  a  few 
grazing  sheep,  and  intersected  by  rows  of  stone  that 
mark,  more  or  less  distinctly,  the  lines  of  what  once  were 
streets.  Green  mounds  and  embankments  of  earth  en- 
close the  whole  space,  and  beneath  the  highest  of  them 
yawn  arches  and  caverns  of  ancient  masonry.  This 
grassy  solitude  was  once  '  the  Dunkirk  of  America.' 
Here  stood  Louisourg ;  and  not  all  the  efforts  of  its  con- 
querors, qpr  all  the  havoc  of  succeeding  times,  have 
availed  to  efface  it.  Men  in  hundreds  toiled  for  months 
with  lever,  spade,  and  gunpowder  in  the  work  of  de- 
struction, and  for  more  than  a  century  it  has  served  as  a 
stone-quarry ;  but  the  remains  of  its  vast  defences  still 
tell  their  tale  of  human  valor  and  human  woe,     .     .     , 


U.»,hi..i>-n.3^<,.;,u,i*ifljjlSi« 


WHY    WAS    LOUISBURG    TWICE    BESFEGED? 


21 


Beyond  lies  a  hamlet  of  fishermen,  by  tiie  edge  of  the 
water,  and  a  few  scattered  dwellings  dot  the  rough  hills, 
bristled  with  stunted  firs,  that  gird  the  quiet  basin; 
while  close  at  hand,  within  the  precinct  of  the  vanished 
fortress,  stand  two  smail  farm-houses.  All  else  is  a  soli- 
tude of  ocean,  rock,  marsh,  and  forest." 

And  here  it  is  that  the  monument  to  be  raised  by  the 
descendants  of  the  Soldiers  of  Colonial  Wars,  on  the  17th 
of  June  next,— the  anniversary  of  a  day  fateful  in 
our  history,  — will  commemorate  the  valor  of  our  New 
England  troops,  of  which  the  early  manifestation  of  1745 
was  the  bright  augury  of  a  later  and  splendid  demon- 
stration. 


m' 


